1976 SHIVER AND
SHAKE Holiday Special cost 25 p. and was 64 pages thick. Here’s what was
inside. Again, red marks the strips that weren’t
familiar to readers of Sh&Sh weeklies, earlier annuals or holiday specials.
Freddie
Fang the Werewolf Cub (5 reprints from COR!! including two in full
colour); Shiver (2 episodes by Terry Bave, including one in full colour);
Ghouldilocks,
The Hand; Scatty Bat (4 reprints from WHIZZER AND CHIPS); Frankie
Stein by Frank McDiarmid; The Ghost’s Revenge; Shake
by Terry Bave (3 episodes, including two in full colour); Moana Lisa by Alf
Saporito; Mirth Shakers (5 pages of gags illustrated by Mike Lacey); Wizard
Prang and Demon Druid (4 reprints from SMASH!/POW!); The
Desert Fox by Terry Bave; International Street
by Joe Colquhoun; Sports School by Jim Watson; Webster by Terry Bave; Brain
Raiders puzzles centrespread; Tough Nutt and Softy Centre by
Norman Mansbridge; Fixer by Les Barton; Grimly Feendish (reprint from
SMASH!); Blunder Puss by Jim Crocker (signed); Horrornation Street by
Tom Williams; Which Witch is Which? by Ken
Reid; Ghoul Getters Ltd. by Les Barton; Ring the Changes puzzle
by Tom Williams featuring Horrornation Street; The
Duke’s Spook.
Terry Bave
was the biggest contributor with 9 pages of Shake, Shiver,
The
Desert Fox and Webster artwork. Here is a large colour
panel from one of his Shake sets:
The second largest
input was by Mike Lacey who drew the cover and 5 pages of
Mirth
Shakers gags.
A number of
sets were drawn by substitute artists, such as Frank McDiarmid on Frankie
Stein:
… Alf
Saporito on Moana Lisa:
… and Les
Barton on Fixer and Ghoul Getters Ltd.
By this
time regular readers of Shiver and Shake
annuals and holiday specials were well familiar with Scatty Bat and Wizard
Prang and Demon Druid that were in fact reprints from older comics. In
this edition the roster of reprints was supplemented with another feature - Freddie
Fang the Werewolf Cub, originally from COR!! I covered the strip last
year in my COR!! series, you can read the review HERE. The 5 episodes included
in the 1976 Shiver and Shake holiday
special were by the brilliant Reg Parlett. The original sets were in black and
white but two of the reprints were coloured in. Check out an original and its
coloured version side by side. This happens to be the first episode of Freddie Fang from the first issue of COR!!
The first
one is International Street from the hand of Joe Colquhoun. It may
very well be a reprint but if it is, I don’t know where from and would be
delighted if someone told me the source and whether it was part of a series:
And if you
thought International Street was the highlight of the 1976 SHIVER AND
SHAKE holiday special, think again because the magazine also included Which
Witch is Which? – a two-pager by no less than Mr. Ken Reid. We’ll
probably never know if this was a test episode for a series that was never
followed up, or perhaps something that Mr. Reid drew for his own enjoyment and
the editor though it was too good not to be printed. Either way, it is an
excellent set showing the master at his very best…  |
